After the Ethiopian war, the Italian cinema celebrated the men who built the Empire and their ideals. Between 1936 and 1939, six movies on these topics represented the main example not only of the fascist colonial propaganda, but also of the regime policy on cinema since the 1930s. Thanks to movies like Lo squadrone bianco, Il grande appello, Scipione l’Africano, Sentinelle di bronzo, Luciano Serra pilota, Sotto la Croce del Sud, Abuna Messias, or the latest Bengasi in 1942, we can define the perception of the African conquest by the Italian society, but also the topoi that influenced the imagination of the Italians in a profound and lasting way during Fascism and beyond.Keywords: Cinema, fascism, colonialism, propaganda, empire, movie